Differentiating Characteristics

Competitive advantage in the money management business is neither simple nor one-dimensional. Instead, it requires the quality ingredients of distinctive competencies, a good recipe that thoughtfully combines strategic and operational elements, and the care and skill to prepare, assemble, and serve these ingredients in a way that is especially useful and enjoyable for you. We believe we have done this with Areté and hope you enjoy the results.

Built ForPurpose

To help investors invest better

Multiple DimensionsIncorporated

To provide expertise along all of the dimensions of investing that matter to you

KnowledgeManagement

To continuously generate valuable insights into investment risks and opportunities

Built for purposeAreté was founded on the idea of helping make investors better off. This started with the belief that investing is an important activity that can improve economic welfare over time and that high quality investment services should be available at an affordable price. We then created an economically viable business model around this goal. Because of this orientation, you will find that a lot of the policy choices we make in regards to things like avoiding conflicts of interest, being transparent in our communications and maintaining our independence will be very different than those of our competitors.

Multiple dimensions incorporated Areté realizes that proficiency along any single dimension of investment management may be impressive in its own right, but is not sufficient to deliver an excellent service to investors. As a result, we focus on developing and delivering expertise across multiple dimensions including investment research, portfolio construction, stewardship, client service, expense management, knowledge management, back office/operations, proxy voting, and firm management. We have combined and coordinated efforts along each of these dimensions in a way that maximizes the return you get from your management fees – so that your investments work as hard for you as they can.

Knowledge managementKnowledge development and management are the heart of Areté's research effort and provide a key competitive advantage. Since technology has largely commoditized data and information, we focus instead on building these components into higher level understanding. Namely, we develop perspective by analyzing available information, viewing things through multiple perspectives, and synthesizing viewpoints. In essence, we connect the dots to establish a complete picture. Because we devote significant resources to this effort, we operate like an investment think tank.

Further, the entire culture of Areté is built around ideas and curiosity. One way in which we try to differentiate ourselves is to apply fresh thinking to everything we do. As an independent, emerging manager, we are not constrained by operational legacies or corporate politics. Essentially, we apply the research and analytical skills we have developed in the business to the business. We think about the best way to do things, we determine the best way to implement them, and then we do them, pure and simple. As a result, many of our business practices and investment views will look different from what you see elsewhere.

Technology strategy Technology has made virtually every aspect of our lives better, cheaper, faster, and more flexible. Some features such as electronic client account access and cloud storage are widely available now but were rare only five or ten years ago. In nearly all cases, expenses such as commission costs, data costs, computer costs, communication costs, and back office costs are all vastly cheaper today. Such trends are profoundly affecting the investment industry in many ways. For instance, widely accessible technology is making new investment firms competitive on a much smaller scale than ever before. In addition, smaller, more flexible firms that can rapidly and strategically implement new technologies have significant advantages in passing on the benefits of cheaper services and better knowledge management to investors. In contrast, many larger firms expend their resources on managing fragmented structures and delay new rollouts in order to fully depreciate old legacy systems.